Dustbot: An On-Demand Trash Collecting Robot

The Dustbot is a robot that can pick up trash and drop it off at its appropriate dumping place, all on its own. Started as a project by Italy’s Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna CRIM Lab, the Dustbot has a 70 pound capacity and runs on a lithium battery, enough to power it for 10 miles of travel. Its laser scanner, sensors and other technology provide navigation, help it avoid obstacles and prevent it from getting lost. The Dustbot can also respond to a cell phone call where it comes to the caller, verifies his ID number and takes the trash from him after asking him the kind of trash being dumped and then takes it to a dumping site.

The bot can clean streets which are too narrow for dump trucks and is substantially quieter than them. They can also take samples of the air and send the data to the authorities for analysis. Most importantly, these bots are available on demand unlike the garbage trucks.